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Reflections on Ten Years as a Foreign Missionaries — The Raineri Family

July 13, 2018

By Angie Raineri

In 2008, Good Shepherd sent us into foreign missions to World Gospel Outreach in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We landed on July 2, 2008 with twin 9-year olds, our older three boys on their own in the US. Our hope was to help God do His work in Honduras.

Now, looking back, seeing our almost 20-year-olds in the US attending college and working, as well as our three sons married with our nine grandchildren, we realize that God was actually working in us…changing us! We think that the best words to describe our journey is faith, obedience and love. Faith in God and His plans, obedience to His call, and loving Him and everyone else with His love.

Don’t get us wrong— we miss everyone! Our biological family and our church family. This is not glamorous work or exciting locations that keep us entranced with travel and food. This is realizing that our previous jobs, that sustained us and that we loved, was not the answer to our problems. Our self-focus was too much, and our longing to find something in the earthly realm was really a need to join His mission in the world.

Our Mission: Answering God’s Call

In addition to our administrative work with the Greater Europe Mission (GEM) French Field and the GEM Spiritual Life Team, we are currently helping plant a church in Lamorlaye, France. France has one of the lowest percentages of believers in the world, around 1% putting their faith in Christ.

Our want is not to be church planters. But we are in the process of giving up our wants. We have always said that “We are administrators!” Our passion is for organizing and logistics- all the cool stuff that we can accomplish behind a computer screen, not church planting.

Just to back up a little, after five years in Honduras helping manage a growing medical brigade ministry, in prayer God said “Church plant France.” And by faith and lots of prayer, we made the decision to investigate God’s next call. Now we can see that on that day, in that worship service, it was God that said those words, and He has continued to support this call every day since.

Some days are good, some days are bad. Some days we listen, some days we don’t. But to hear God and to acknowledge Him as your source will take you on a ride that you could never have imagined. He will take you places and support and love you like you have never been loved before. You will find God’s perfect love in your soul that moves you to love others.

Growing Forward

Our prayer, when we made the move to Europe four years ago with GEM, was to help us love the French. We did not want to leave Honduras; we loved the people, the weather, the ministry, our Honduras-made families, and our best friends. However, as you reach down into the people of France you see a spiritual emptiness that far surpasses the brokenness of Honduras. What the Hondurans have that the French do not is a belief that God exists and is with them in their earthly poverty, while 99% of the French don’t realize that their spiritual poverty— the emptiness that they perceive- is actually the result of their worldly wealth, and their lack of faith in the creator.

We are growing to love the French, and have met very nice people who believe in God when no one else around them does. So, we are here to bring God’s love to those who are lost- which everyone is called to do. We just get to do it here, in Lamorlaye, France.

Church Planting Progress

We have had several meetings over the last month. We have planned, we have prayed, and we hope to host our first “official” service in the new church on September 9, 2018. In the meantime, our denomination will be talking with the chapel’s owner about renting the building. On June 17th we had house church again at our house, and on June 18 we prayed on-site with others at the chapel. Thank you for your prayers during this crucial time. We are reminded that our expectations are not necessarily God’s plans.